


Lay You Down

by motorcyclefl1p



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Next Avengers, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Established Relationship, F/M, Multiverse, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 05:30:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19100671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/motorcyclefl1p/pseuds/motorcyclefl1p
Summary: In a quiet corner of the vast multiverse, Steve Rogers dreams.     (NOT for those who are 100% happy with the ending of "Endgame"!)





	Lay You Down

**Author's Note:**

> Warning, again: If you're at least 100% happy with how "Endgame" ended, then this fic is NOT for you.  
> Everyone else, please enjoy my clumsy attempt at self-inflicted therapy. *sobs in the night*

  
  
  
He opened his eyes with a gasp.

“Babe?” Natasha stirred beside him. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, after a moment to catch his breath. He realized his cheeks were wet. “Sorry I woke you.”

She shifted again, and Steve found green eyes blinking at him in the darkness. “’S fine. Wasn’t sleeping well anyway.”

“I'm sorry about that, too.” As she chuckled he pulled her closer, drinking deep of the scent of her soft hair curling around his face. She pressed a kiss to his collarbone.

“Bad, huh?”

He wasn’t sure what to tell her. “Pretty bad,” he agreed.

She said nothing, merely waited. She knew him too well. He wanted to crush her to him, smother himself in her. He settled for finding her hand, folding it in both of his, pressing long, savoring kisses to her forehead.

“You died. In the dream.” He buried his nose in her hair, trying to soothe the clench in his chest. “I wasn’t even with you. You and Clint went off somewhere. Some planet. To get something—something important. But one of you had to die to get it.” Another tear crept down his face unbidden. “Tony died too.”

She was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry, baby,” she murmured.

Steve sighed. It was ridiculous, he told himself, to still feel so upset—but it had felt so _real._ He shuddered at the memory. “You and I—we weren’t even together.” He shook his head, as if to physically dislodge the idea. “We were just friends. Somehow. And at the end—after we fought the bad guy, which was pretty terrible too—I went back in time”—he paused, realizing how silly it sounded—“to this girl I knew during the war, and I...” He shook his head again, exhaling. “I just got _old,_ kind of... _hiding_ from everybody.”

She was still waiting, and when she realized he was done she let out a laugh. He joined her, ruefully. Hugged her again. 

“Hiding, huh?” He felt her smirking into his neck. “That's just cold, babe.” 

He chuckled. “It was definitely weird.” 

“And I thought my pregnancy dreams were bad—Ow.” Her fingers suddenly dug into his arm. “I don’t think James likes your story much either,” she complained as she shifted carefully to lie on her side, her back snug against his front, her head tucked under his chin. 

“Aww, I’m sorry, babe.” He softly rubbed her belly, warm and huge and taut under her nightshirt. “C’mon, little buddy, be nice and let your mommy sleep.” 

“You sleep too, babe.” The smile in her voice was sweet but drowsy. “Got another long day ahead of you.” 

Steve smiled back, already starting to drift. He kept his hand curved around Nat’s belly, cradling, treasuring, protecting. Reassuring himself. Sometimes, these days, he still worried that it was all too good to be true, that he would suddenly wake to find it all gone. Or worse, that it had never even been. He scritched Nat’s stomach lightly, fighting off the thought, and she made a soft pleased hum in her sleep. 

He had a few more dreams that night, vague glimpses of an older Howard Stark and a large-eyed girl with antennae on her head. But he no longer remembered them in the morning. 

  
  
  
_fin_

**Author's Note:**

> In my head this started out as humor, but then it kind of bogged down almost into angst :/


End file.
